Restructuring, the only way out, says Ekweremadu

Urges governors to construct and lease out ranches

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has once again restated that for the country to curtail security challenges, pervasive poverty, and retarded growth, it has to be restructured to make it more efficient and productive.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu, who spoke at the weekend in New York, United States (U.S.) during the 2016 convention of the World Igbo Congress (WIC), also tasked governors of states affected by the menace of Fulani herdsmen to construct and lease out ranches as a part of solutions to the lingering crises.

He stressed that the creation of states from “a strong viable three regional federal structure,” has disservice the country where “centralised police system in which one man at the centre pretends to be in full charge of security of lives and property in the creeks of the Niger Delta, the cocoa farms of the South-West, the expansive land mass of the North, and the hinterlands of the South East,” instead of the federating units taking care of their own securities.

“We also moved from fiscal federalism, which encouraged productivity and competitive development to a feeding bottle federalism that runs on free oil money, encouraging indolence, corruption and lack of creativity in governance.

“Now, you can see why the cost of governance is so high; why states can no longer pay salaries; why neither the Federal Government nor the federating units cared to invest, but lived off their allocations like lottery proceeds over the years; why it is difficult for a state governor to sack rampaging suspected herdsmen; and why those who have the authority to call the security agencies to action to put a full stop to the menace may not be quick in their response”, he further said.

On the creation of ranches for lease, Ekweremadu said there was also need to back it up with Forest Rangers, saying: “When you enact laws to checkmate the menace as Ekiti State has commendably done, you will still rely on the security institutions to enforce them.

“Therefore, our state governments should take further step by ensuring that such legislations provide for enforcement bodies, such as Forest Rangers, which will consistently comb the forests to ensure that those who run foul of the laws are arrested and speedily prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others.”